The Official Mass Effect Group

Mass Effect was one of the most action-packed space odysseys we've ever experienced, and it has at least two sequels that look to up that ante in nearly every way. Whether you are new to the universe or an experienced explorer, feel free to pull up a chair

I liked the ending as it was originally, but I like the EC ending as well. I just have this feeling like BioWare wanted the ending to shock us. Like they wanted us to fill in the blanks for ourselves and just be like "BOOM it's over," and then later, release the EC. This may sound like rambling, so I'm sorry. Like BioWare said when they announced they were going to release the Extended Cut, they were "re-prioritizing" to get it out quickly. I think they might have had the EC planned, but were going to wait to release it, when the outcry forced their hand.

It's like they wanted us to experience it like Shepard would have (not seeing how everything turned out [unless he/she is still alive?]). In BioWare's plan, everybody's like "OMGTHATWASAWESOME" and then, a few months later, they release the EC, and everybody is like "OMGEXTENDEDYES."

Anyway, as GI Editor Joe Jube said (here:

), "If the extended cut had been the original content at the end of Mass Effect 3, the whole ending controversy would never have happened." With this I agree. But who's to say what really happened? Did they rush and didn't finish it like they wanted? Is the EC just something to appease all the nit-pickers? I don't know.

I do know that I love both the original and extended endings, and Mass Effect is still an amazing trilogy that I will replay for a long time.

I personally liked the original endings. However, the Extended Cut was absolutely amazing to me. There were so many simple, yet powerful moments. Like when Joker had to leave, or Shepard's plaque, and Hackett's closing.

I have to agree with Masterassassin. When I played the ending for the first time, I thought it was an okay ending but I just wanted a little more clarity, I wasn't like, "Oh Shepard needs to win and be making out with his LI at the end of the game and throwing a huge bar party..." First off, if there was the option to destroy the reapers and nothing else and then reunite with friends, WHO WOULDN'T PICK IT? Thinking back, I actually am glad they put us in a situation where you had to think and not everyone would win, everyone would make sacrifices, especially your Shepard.

Back to the EC, I thought it was perfect and, yell at me all you want, I would give the game a perfect 10! The point where my partners dodged the mako-car and were severely injured during the run towards Harbinger and Joker picks us up gave me so much clarity and was like, "Oh that makes sense!" I don't want to spoil the rest but overall it just took my breath away and brought my full love back to the series!

I thought the Extended Cut was a great way to address several pertinent concerns of fans without altering the endings fundamentally. There were some notable issues beyond like or dislike that needed to be confronted, such as the original ending's very contradiction of ME's lore re: Arrival, so rectifying this issue is something that I think we can all appreciate regardless of our stance on the Retake Mass Effect movement. It was nice for it to be free, however, I and numerous others I spoke with about the issue would've gladly paid for it to support the hardworking employees at Bioware.